FARUKH SHEHZAD

KARACHI, APR 10: Pakistan will launch an e-passport system by June and services of a German company have been acquired for this purpose, said the interior minister on Friday.

Talking to reporters after visiting the FIA’s zonal office, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said it was a major development which would help remove all the hurdles faced by passport seekers in the current system.

“I assure you that this [e-passport] service would be available by June [2021],” he said in reply to a question. “After that you would not hear any complaints or year long delays for minor work. A German company has been hired for this project and it would be a major relief for all those seeking speedy service by the passport office.”

An e-passport is a highly secure travel document with an embedded microchip containing biometric information about the holder.

Mr Ahmed distanced himself from any role of his ministry and FIA in the ongoing probe into the sugar scandal, saying the matter was being handled by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Mirza Shahzad Akbar.

“Let’s be very clear,” he said when asked about the growing tussle between the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and its estranged leader Jahangir Khan Tareen who is allegedly involved in the sugar scandal. “I have nothing to do with the sugar scandal. Same is my stance for FIA. This sugar scandal and money laundering are subjects of Shahzad Akbar. He would be in a better position to answer that. But the case of Jahangir Tareen is very sensitive in my opinion.”

He claimed to have launched a reforms campaign in the FIA and held out the assurance that results would start emerging after one month.

“Just give me a month. I assure you that you would see things changing in FIA after Ramazan. This is my promise,” he said while referring to “pressure” on him from different quarters as a large number of government officers wanted their postings in the agency.

He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan a policy had been designed to promote tourism in the country and that the online visa service was being offered to the citizens of 192 countries.

“Under the same policy we have issued some 300,000 visas [during the last few months],” said the minister. “Only 12,000 applications were rejected. Every agency involved in clearance of applicants has been asked to give their report within a month. So within a month, the applicant is getting Pakistani visa.”

He avoided taking questions about politics, but cautiously commented on a few. However, he didn’t take a second to deny any impression of any threat to PM Khan and his government.

“This is absolute gossip and let me tell you that there’s no threat to Imran Khan,” said Mr Ahmed. “He’s going to complete his [five-year] term and would emerge as a very strong candidate for the next one. There’s peace everywhere for Imran Khan.”

He called the former president and co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Asif Ali Zardari a “smart politician who keeps his cards close to his chest”.

“I appreciate the positive thinking of the PPP and who doesn’t know Asif Zardari,” he said. “He’s a smart player who always keeps his cards close his chest. The PML-N is proving itself self-destructive. They have taken the anti-military line for point scoring, but they don’t know that people are well aware of their past. They are the products of the GHQ and without the blessing of [military dictator] General Ziaul Haq, none of them could have become a counselor.”

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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BUCHAREST, APR 9: Romanian officials plan to launch the first mobile COVID-19 vaccination centers this month in an effort to boost rural access to the vaccine. Valeriu Gheorghita, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, said that vaccination in such centers could start on April 20.

“On April 20, we want to start vaccinations at mobile centers; about 20 mobile centers will be set up in a first stage, they will be distributed nationwide, and will be coordinated by the County Committee for Management and Coordination of Intervention in cooperation with military hospitals because all these 20 centers operate with human resources from the Ministry of Defense,” Gheoghita said in a press conference on Tuesday, April 6, according to News.ro.

These mobile centers will go to rural localities where the population doesn’t have access to vaccination centers or family doctors, and will mainly use the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Valeriu Gheorghita also explained.

According to Secretary of State for Health Andrei Baciu, Romania is set to receive more than 8.3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in April and May, including the first batches of Johnson & Johnson vaccines, Digi24 reported. Currently, Romania uses the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines.

“This week, we will receive 134,400 doses from Moderna and 110,564 doses from AstraZeneca. As for the vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, we will receive 511,000 doses a week, from the information we have for the next two weeks. 512,000 doses will arrive in the last week of April, bringing the total to 2,046,330 doses at the end of April. For Moderna, nothing has changed from the week before, we are talking about a minimum of 280,800 doses for April, and for AstraZeneca, 879,990,” Baciu said.

Romania kicked off the vaccination campaign on December 27. By April 6, more than 2.15 million people received the vaccine: 897,857 got the first dose, and over 1.25 million received both doses.

According to Valeriu Gheorghita, 780,000 people who want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine have signed up on waiting lists by Tuesday, April 6. Most of them are from Bucharest and the counties of Cluj and Prahova.

“At the moment, we have about 780,000 people on the waiting lists. By category, about 60% are people belonging to the general population, included in the third stage of the vaccination campaign, about 32% are people belonging to the vulnerable category, people with chronic diseases, people over 65, people with disabilities, and about 7.5% are individuals working in key areas,” Gheorghita said, according to News.ro.

By areas, more than 150,000 people on waiting lists are from Bucharest, almost 60,000 are from the county of Cluj, 37,000 are from Prahova county, over 29,000 are from Iasi county, and also over 29,000 are from Ilfov county, according to the data presented by Gheorghita.

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COURTESY romania-insider

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ISLAMABAD, APR 9: A meeting was held between Ismatullo Nasredin, Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan to Pakistan, and Khalid Taimur Akram, Executive Director, Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad at the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan, Islamabad, on April 8.

During the meeting, matters of mutual interest were discussed including initiatives to further expand cooperation among various institutions of Tajikistan and CGSS.

It was agreed that academic collaboration and people-to-people contact must be established and strengthened for enhanced bilateral relations of both countries.

Ismatullo Nasredin acknowledged and appreciated CGSS’s efforts to strengthen Pakistan’s ties with Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries.

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COURTESY CGSS

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ISLAMABAD, APR 9: A meeting was held between the Ambassador of United Arab Emirates to Pakistan, Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi, and Khalid Taimur Akram, Executive Director, Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad, on April 8.

During the meeting, it was decided that CGSS will collaborate with various think tanks and institutions in the United Arab Emirates to enhance the bilateral ties of both countries.

It was agreed that CGSS and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Islamabad will work in the field of research, and seminars/conferences will be arranged for cooperation.

As this year marks the 50th Anniversary of Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates of diplomatic ties, CGSS and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates will jointly arrange various activities to celebrate this historic event.

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COURTESY CGSS

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ISLAMABAD, APR 9: Pakistan has made a commitment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase FBR taxes by a massive Rs1.272 trillion (almost 2.8 per cent of GDP) in the coming budget and jack up electricity rates by almost Rs4.97 per unit in the remaining three months of the current fiscal year.

According to documents released by the IMF after approval by its executive board of directors of the modified extended fund facility (EFF), the government has also given an undertaking to continue making electricity tariff adjustments next year on monthly, quarterly and annual basis through “automaticity” of regulator Nepra’s amended powers.

The documents also suggest that the government would continue increasing petroleum levy on oil products to the maximum level (Rs30 per litre) this year and next year to collect about Rs510 billion this year instead of budgeted target of Rs450bn.

The petroleum levy target for the next year has been set at Rs607bn. The provinces have given an undertaking to provide Rs570bn cash surplus to the federal government and increase it to Rs729bn next year.

Government to raise electricity tariff by Rs4.97 per unit in remaining three months of current fiscal year

As such, the tax collection target for the Federal Board of Revenue in next year’s budget has been committed at Rs5.963tr against Rs4.691tr revised target for the current fiscal year. About Rs500bn will be additional tax generation through “general sales tax (GST) and a personal income tax reform with the FY2022 budget, yielding an estimated 1.1pc of GDP”.

Under the agreement, the government would also bring down the current year’s development programme to Rs1.169tr against budgeted target of Rs1.324tr.

The government has also given an undertaking to make adjustments in gas tariff and not to consider any tax exemption or tax amnesty in future. Also, the IMF made it part of the programme conditions to have detailed audit of the funds allocated for combating Covid-19, including contracts and beneficial ownership of bidding results, including medical supplies.

The IMF confirmed that Pakistan had completed a total of five prior-actions to revive the Fund programme, including Rs3.57 per unit increase in electricity tariff and submission of the SBP amendment bill to parliament to revive the EFF programme and secure disbursement of $500 million.

However, Finance Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal had told the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance on Wednesday that the SBP amendment bill had not yet been submitted to parliament and resisted discussions on it unless it becomes a public document.

The IMF documents showed Pakistan also agreed to have a total of 11 new structural benchmarks, while another equal number of unmet previous structural benchmarks would remain in place for implementation under revised deadlines.

Speaking at a live briefing, IMF’s mission chief for Pakistan Ernesto Ramirez Rigo said that despite hard economic conditions amid Covid-19 steep adjustments in energy tariff were inevitable because the rising circular debt was a drain on public finance and a drag on economic growth. He agreed that these were unpleasant adjustments but solution lied in the combination of cost recoveries, loss reduction and system improvement.

He said the increase in revenues was also a hard choice along with control on unnecessary expenditures to spare fiscal space for social sector spending, including health and education. He said the removal of plenty of tax exemptions, including GST, was not easy with political economy but was necessary to continue to broaden the tax base.

Responding to a question about renegotiations on the Fund programme following recent statements by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Finance Minister Hammad Azhar, the IMF mission chief said the two sides had been in contact soon after the disbursement of $500m and it was an ongoing process as part of quarterly reviews.

However, he said the government had made no formal request for renegotiations. He said that while remaining within the programme objectives and design, the sequencing could always be discussed as it was not something written on stone. There could always have different approaches to achieve same results, he said.

The government confirmed that the cabinet had approved a timetable for the determined, but not yet notified electricity price adjustments. The timetable includes a two-staged implementation of the FY2021 annual rebasing, determined as Rs3.34 per unit increase in the base tariff.

The government will have to change subsidy policy that involved an expanded definition of the lifeline tariff through provision of average of previous 12 months’ consumption rather than the existing monthly consumption.

As part of the circular debt management plan, an embedded mechanism of automaticity of tariff adjustments in line with the plan’s declining path of accumulation of new arrears has been ensured, streamlining the process of power tariff adjustments to increase its predictability. “The new tariff adjustment plan, designed in consultation with our international partners, will consolidate tariff adjustments to significantly reduce the number of end-consumer tariff adjustments in FY2022 while delivering the required revenue for the system,” the finance ministry said.

In particular, the fuel price adjustment, the quarterly adjustment for capacity payments and the annual rebasing of tariff will continue to take place, but their timing will be adjusted to alleviate consumers from the impact of continued tariff adjustments.

The government has agreed to broaden and harmonise the GST base underpinned by a unified tax base and within the confines of the current constitution.

Notably, this will eliminate all zero-rated goods (Fifth Schedule), except export and capital machinery goods, and move them to the standard sales tax rate, remove reduced rates under the Eight Schedule and bring all those goods to the standard sales tax rate and eliminate exemptions (Sixth Schedule), excluding a small subset of goods (i.e. basic food, medicines, live animals for human consumption, education and health-related goods).

The government will also bring all others under the standard rate and remove the Ninth Schedule to replace a specific tax rate for cell phones with the standard rate. These reforms are expected to yield an estimated 0.7pc of GDP on an annualised basis.

On top, the government will reform personal income tax (PIT) regime to change the existing tax rate structure by reducing the number of rates and income tax brackets from 11 to five and decreasing the size of income slabs. It will also introduce special tax procedures for very small taxpayers, aimed at preventing further tax base erosion and facilitating formalisation of the economy and then adopt a long-term strategy to reduce labour informality and to bring additional taxpayers into the PIT net. This reform is expected to yield 0.4pc of GDP on an annualised basis.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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LONDON, APR 9: About 50 members of parliament signed a letter addressed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, demanding charter flights for stranded citizens in Pakistan and Bangladesh. They also asked for clarity on when the ‘red list’ would be reviewed.

Led by Yasmin Qureshi, a British Pakistani MP for Bolton South East, the letter said the ban came into force at a short notice and that travellers had been “put into a position of either being stuck abroad or getting into considerable debt” to pay to get home. The MPs asked the government to explore charter flight options or provide financial support for stranded UK residents.

“If this cannot be done, then measures need to be put in place to extend the cut-off date,” the letter said, adding: “The vast majority of UK residents currently in those countries will have had to save up for some time to fly over there. Most are not risk or even moderately wealthy people but are working class citizens.”

The UK government announced last week that Pakistan would be added to the ‘red list’ of countries, a travel curb that is effective from April 9. Passengers from Pakistan will be denied entry to the UK unless they are British or Irish nationals or have residency rights. The cost for one adult in a hotel room for 10 days is £1,750, which does not include the mandatory £210 each passenger has to pay for testing in this period.

The letter raised concerns about “lack of available data and evidential and scientific reasoning” behind Pakistan’s inclusion on the ‘red list’. It noted that the current rate of infection in Pakistan is reported to be lower than the UK.

The MPs also asked the government to clarify when the next review date would be for removing countries from the red list “so constituents can make realistic travel plans”.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, APR 9: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday called upon member countries of the Developing Eight (D8) grouping to expand the scope of trade between themselves and mobilise resources to tackle the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He was addressing the 10th virtual summit of the D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation, a group that aims to facilitate cooperation in the field of development and counts Bangladesh, Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan among its members.

The theme of the summit, hosted by Bangladesh, was "Partnership for a Transformative World: Harnessing Power of Youth and Technology".

In his remarks, Prime Minister Imran said the D8 had been formed to "improve member states' position in the global economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation and decision-making at the international level, and improve living standards".

He noted that today, the D8 was a grouping of over one billion people with a combined GDP of $4 trillion and "we possess two essential prerequisites for growth: resources and enterprising people".

He proposed the following five-pronged roadmap to "realise the vision of D8 in these testing times".

• Financial and resource mobilisation:

"We must mobilise financing and resources to recover robustly from the economic and health crisis induced by the Covid pandemic," Imran said.

He recalled that he had already proposed a five-point plan which included debt relief, creation and redistribution of special drawing rights, mobilisation of climate finance, elimination of illicit financial flows and return of stolen assets to developing countries.

"It was in this context that I called for a global initiative on debt relief last April. I invite the D8 members to consider these five points and join in advocacy of Covid-related relief measures."

• Expansion of intra-D8 trade:

The prime minister suggested that "concrete actions" should be taken to expand trade between the D8 countries from the current $100 billion to $500bn by 2030.

"It should include measures like simplification of border procedures, enhancing institutional linkages and operationalising new initiatives.

"We welcome ideas like the D8 payment card which will enable transactions in local currency," he said.

• Youth engagement strategy:

Imran said a strategy to engage the youth of the developing countries through promoting cultural, educational, scientific and business exchanges was very important.

He particularly emphasised forming linkages through educational institutions such as scholarships, skill development programmes, trainings, fellowships, joint research, and exchange programmes for the youth, especially in the field of science and technology.

• Knowledge-based economies:

"Technological development is a gateway to economic prosperity particularly in the post-pandemic period when reliance on technology would be greater than ever before in human history," the prime minister stressed.

"To remain competitive, we must promote knowledge-based economies, increase expenditure on research and development, and focus on rapid digitalisation," he added, pointing out that Pakistan had recently hosted the inaugural meeting of the D8 network of pioneers of research and innovation.

• Relevance of the D8 in citizens' lives:

The premier stressed that it was important to make the D8 organisation relevant in the lives of the citizens of its members. This could be achieved, he said, through promoting food security, enhancing cooperation in health, holding joint sports events and helping during natural disasters.

"To achieve these goals we need a high level of commitment and mobilisation of financial resources by both developed and developing economies.

"Partnerships between governments, international financial institutions, businesses and civil society are essential to leverage technology, innovation and skills to enable every young person to have all opportunities [present] to realise their potential," he said.

Rising inequality

Speaking about the socioeconomic costs of the pandemic, Prime Minister Imran said the health crisis had accentuated inequalities not only within countries but also between rich and poor countries.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the death of over 2.9 million people, more than 250m people have become unemployed, trillions of dollars were lost as a result of global economic contraction and the virus has taken a heavy toll on poor countries and the poor in all the countries," he said.

Developing countries, he said, were faced with the dual dilemma of saving their people from the virus as well as hunger. Today, the world "boasts" a large number of young people who are unemployed, uneducated and unskilled for the demands of the 21st century, he added.

"Our youth has not only the potential to optimise our opportunities but also overcome our common challenges. They are entrepreneurs, business innovators, technology pioneers, educators, activists, artists and journalists.

"We must create new opportunities for this predominant component of our population. Harnessing technology, promoting innovation, [and] investing in youth education, skills and training is, therefore, an urgent imperative," the premier emphasised.

Imran said his government was tackling this investment in the youth through initiatives such as the Kamyab Jawan and Hunarmand Pakistan programmes, Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme and Digital Pakistan.

"The pace of change has intensified in recent times, information and technology breakthroughs are fast transforming science-fiction of yesterday into today's reality," the prime minister said, noting that contemporary global challenges in a changing world were akin to moving targets — no single country could address these complexities in isolation.

"Partnerships are essential. I'm happy that in D8 we have a platform to work together for mutual benefit and win-win solutions," he remarked.

Vaccine nationalism

Prime Minister Imran said the D8 members should pay special attention to the following three areas in order to cope with the demands of a rapidly transforming world.

• Projects that harness technology for supply-side improvements with special emphasis on efficiency and productivity.
• Ideas to insulate its members from disruptions in labour markets due to technology and innovations.
• Call for Covid-19 vaccines to be treated as a global public good to ensure equity, affordability, enhanced production, and timely supply to save lives.

Elaborating on the points, the premier said that technological changes were bringing transportation and communication costs down, while automation was replacing labour. D8 countries should keep up with changing logistics and supply chains while protecting their labour-intensive economies from unemployment and social disruption, he added.

"We must push back against vaccine nationalism and undue export restrictions. The global vaccine manufacturing companies must either speed up production or share their technology and expertise with developing countries for adequate vaccine supply."

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, APR 8: Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium that is known as ‘Mycobacterium Tuberculosis’. This bacteria usually just affects the lung but TB can affect any part of the body. The TB epidemic in Pakistan is extremely high and continues to rise as there is not much awareness on the disease. 

Pakistan ranks as the 5th most affected region by TB around the world. It is more prevalent in children due to the fact that it is not easily diagnosable since the symptoms can easily be missed or overlooked as they are very non-specific. Moreover, TB accounts for 8% to 20% of deaths of children in Pakistan every year.

Marium M. Aslam is a 13 year old girl who studies in the 4th grade and resides with her family at New Karachi. She had always been a playful and bright child until 5 months ago when she started to feel sick quite often. Her symptoms included shortness of breath, sharp pain in the lungs, an extremely bad cough and a fever. After a few visits to the doctors and running some tests, Marium was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) and Left-Sided Pneumothorax.

Ever since then Marium stopped taking much of an interest in sports, her grades dropped and her appetite lessened to the point where she faced unconditional weight loss. The situation got even worse when she collapsed due to an abnormally high heartbeat and facing trouble breathing. She was then rushed to a public hospital so that her treatment could be initiated but she faced a major hurdle there. Since she was diagnosed with an acute case of TB and Left-Sided Pneumothorax she had to be kept in isolation. However, M. Aslam, a father of five young children, could not afford admitting Marium at a private isolation firm. Her father works as a seller at a Bachat Bazar and earns a nominal sum of PKR 20,000. He was already struggling to make ends meet at home along with the education of his children, he could simply not bear the expenses of a private health institute.

 And so young Marium and her family found themselves in quite the debacle. Her parents were desperately trying to figure out alternative ways to ensure that their daughter gets the treatment that she so badly required. After facing many closed doors and failed attempts, Aslam finally learned about the work that the Patients’ Aid Foundation (PAF) has done at JPMC. With the help and support provided by the Patients’ Aid Foundation (PAF), a 13 bedded TB isolation ward for complicated TB cases and other lung related issues has been introduced at Jinnah Post-graduate medical center (JPMC).

 Marium was soon shifted to one of the isolation rooms of this ward where she was accommodated and made comfortable. Her treatment was started and the doctors ruled out any other condition by running some prescribed tests such as ECHO, CT-Scan, and Ultrasound etc. She also went through a minor procedure for her Left-Sided Pneumothorax and was provided with an oxygen cylinder to assist her in breathing more comfortably. Her stay lasted for 13 days.

Mariam’s family was so grateful for this service provided by the Patients’ Aid Foundation (PAF) at JPMC. Her father was extremely thankful of how accommodating the staff was and the way they took care of his daughter and also ran various diagnostic tests which he would not have been able to afford if it weren’t for the support provided by the Patients’ Aid Foundation (PAF).

‘’I am happy to feel better, I don’t have trouble breathing and I don’t feel pain in my chest anymore. I feel like a normal and healthy kid. I am very excited to return home so I can see my mother, play with my siblings and join back school.’’ – Marium.

Marium is now almost down to the finish line on the road to recovery. She bounced back in no time and is more than ready to be back home, go back to school and go back to being her usual playful and cheery self.

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DUSHANBE, APR 8: Trade between Tajikistan and Belarus has increased twofold between 2019 and 2020. This was noted yesterday at the forum of business circles of Tajikistan, Belarus and Afghanistan which took place in Dushanbe.

Over 200 people, including heads of state bodies, enterprises, organizations, entrepreneurs, business circles of Tajikistan, Belarus, and Afghanistan were in attendance.

The Chairman of the State Committee for Investments and State Property Management of Tajikistan Sadi Kodirzoda, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Belarus Vladimir Ulakhovich, Minister of Agriculture of Tajikistan Sulaimon Ziyozoda, Minister of Agriculture and Food of Belarus Ivan Krupko, Member of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Afghanistan Khan John Alkozai, and other representatives of business circles participated in the forum.

Cooperation between the three states has the potential to expand even further as there are vast untapped opportunities, noted the participants.

Trade and economic opportunities of all three countries in various fields were presented, and the business and commercial circles of Tajikistan, Belarus and Afghanistan were informed about the business and investment climate, investment opportunities in tourism, industry and agriculture, food, pharmaceuticals, and other sectors.

Also, a bilateral meeting of entrepreneurs of the three states was held in the B2B format, as a result of which new documents were signed on cooperation in the field of agriculture, agricultural production, agro-industrial, and pharmaceutical equipment.

Belarusian goods and products under the name Made in Belarus were showcased as part of the forum, with the inclusion of 40 enterprises and manufacturing companies of Belarus.

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COURTESY eng.khovar.tj

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Stockholm, (SWEDEN), APR 8: Sweden will spend an extra SEK 7 billion on the health system and vaccinations in the fight against the corona pandemic.

In addition to the purchase and roll-out of vaccines, the billions will be used for the treatment of COVID-19 patients and other treatments that have been postponed due to the pandemic.

“We are adding financial resources to strengthen the vaccination and infection control work,” Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The proposal for extra money for the health service has been made in an additional proposal for a revised budget.

“We are putting forward a proposal to add another two billion to the regions,” Andersson said. The regions are responsible for health services in Sweden.

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COURTESY norwaytoday

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ISLAMABAD, APR 8: “Pakistan no longer has the luxury to focus on bringing the colossal pre-pandemic figure of 22.8 million out-of-school children into schools but must now actively strategize to prevent a roll-back on important gains made vis-à-vis education, especially girls’ access to education in the last decade. Inaction can result in millions of more Pakistani children dropping-out of schools.” These views were expressed by Areebah Shahid, Executive Director Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA) at the launch of the #InvestInEducationStrengthenPakistan campaign.

Education activists, influencers and media personalities from around the country gathered for this virtual event.The virtual consultation was aimed at garnering the support of key influencers from all walks of life to ensure that education and the future of over 80 million Pakistani children does not take a backseat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key findings and recommendations of the recently released white paper by PYCA, “Public Investment in Education – COVID-19 & Other Past Emergencies,” were also shared with the participants. The white paper is authored by Asim Bashir Khan, an economist and Public Financial Management expert.

Mr. Asim Bashir Khan while providing an overview of the key findings of the white paper stated, “Cuts in education budgets and more specifically within the education development expenditure are a routine practice and have little to do with the fall-out of emergency situations such as the on-going pandemic.” Elaborating this point, he added, “The most recent budget (fiscal year 2020-21), for instance seems to be a continuation of past trends rather than a result of the fall-out of the COVID-19 emergency. Except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the non-development expenditures, as usual saw an increase in all the provinces and at the federal level. In the same realm, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was unparalleled in terms of its planned increase in the education development portfolio, which it enhanced by 46.2 per cent Sindh and the federal government introduced meager increases of 7.7 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively. Balochistan and Punjab, on the other hand, budgeted huge cuts worth of 23.9 per cent and 16.3 per cent respectively.”

There is however, little justification for this especially after the government itself claimed the feat of a V-shaped recovery. By doing so, the government has also effectively acknowledged that the tide of anticipated financial losses has been reversed. An early and sustained path to economic recovery coupled with international monetary support in turn means that the state does, in fact, have the fiscal space to prioritize development spending on education and other social sector subjects.

While emphasizing the urgency of the situation, journalist ZarrarKhurro said, “While we have a multitude of challenges that are likely to only multiply as Pakistan’s population grows, the important thing is to begin the process of reform and begin it immediately.”

George Fulton, pointed at the need to redefine education in terms of the many issues and concerns that have a greater buy-in both among the masses and the political elite. “Elaborating on the key linkages that education has with climate change, livelihoods or security can go a long way in ensuring that more people appreciate the importance of greater investment in education.”

“Bringing more children to schools is just one aspect of the education dilemma in Pakistan, quality is another huge concern. Investment in education should be geared towards making schools places of true learning for our children,” said social commentator FasiZaka while speaking at the event.

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